Monday, July 09, 2007

At last we have had 2 days were we could get out and tackle the allotment without getting soaked. The recent rain has damaged a few crops but the weeds just keep on coming.

Last week we pulled up all our garlic and onions and in that bed we have planted peas. It is a little late but I though we would have a go - I have struggled all year with peas mainly for 2 reasons - firstly I was using old seeds and germination was slow, secondly those that did germinate were eaten by the pigeons. So to deter our feathered friends the peas are now under netting.

We have also taken up our shallots - and in their place we have sown some Purple Sprouting Broccoli (PSB). Well, that's what I think it is - but the label came off... As the pigeons also like Brassicas these are under netting and fleece as shown in the photos.

We have also dug up our new potatoes - these looked quite sorry for themselves after all the rain and in their place are leeks.

But still things are growing - mostly weeds - in fact for the last month we have been overrun with lettuce, so much so we now have a large amount of lettuce soup in the freezer...Last weekend on one of the few dry afternoons I pulled up all the garlic and onions. These were planted on 3rd Dec and they have grown really well - last year I struggled with garlic - this was because I used shop-bought garlic. This is heat treated so when you plant it it will not spilt into cloves. Also I have found out that the frost is essential for garlic to split into cloves. Normally you would pull up the onions and garlic and leave them on the soil to dry out in the sun. Clearly this is not going to happen so they are in the greenhouse. I reckon we have enough onions and garlic to last us 12 months. What lovely breath we'll have...We have also been eating a few new potatoes and this has been great - these have been our earlies though they didn't flower. We have also had a good crop of Broad Beans.I am now deciding what to plant in place of the onions/garlic - I reckon it will be peas, although I am struggling with these as the pigeons keep eating them.